Coffee etiquette in the office

[hattie43]

In our office of 3 up to sometimes 6 we have long asked for a decent coffee machine so far to no avail .

This means I'm finding it difficult to go and grab a coffee without asking everyone else , but making a variety of coffee, hot chocolate, tea with our kettle takes so bloomin long .
Same with when I want a Starbucks I feel obliged to ask everyone else .

What do you do where you are , get your own or offer a ' round ' to everyone else .

With that few people in the office I’d have to ask everyone but if nobody reciprocated then I’d stop asking and just make my own.

We get our own - we have a boiling water tap in the kitchenette; much quicker than a kettle - would your employers consider installing one?

We just get our own. I couldn't be bothered with trying to remember who wants milk/sugar etc

Although we have a hot water machine, so no waiting on the kettle to boil 😀

Do other people make/pick up hot drinks for you? I don’t mind making a round as long as the other people reciprocate.

If I'm purchasing a coffee (either at canteen or coffee shop) it's not routine for me to ask others what they want. Unless I'm stood with them in the queue or its an attendee at a session I'm hosting. I'd simply mention, "nipping to Starbucks for a coffee" leave ot there, if anyone wants anything they can ask but that's on the proviso they give you money for their item.

I work in a similar sized office and we all just get our own. It’s hard to break out of it though once you’ve got into the habit of doing “rounds”.

We get our own.

We have one of those taps that have boiling water.

I used to get asked to make coffee for up to 10 people as they had a rota. I didn't drink coffee so no-one ever made me a drink and I thought it was unfair.

As such I made very bad tea and coffee after two rounds of bad brews, they changed it so that everyone made their own!!

What about a cafetiere and mini milk frother? Or a cheap pod one. Ask all to chip in, problem solved.

Get a fancy water bottle, one that holds cold drinks and hot drinks. Say you’re just going to fill your “water” bottle. Full bottle with coffee. Return to desk and pretend it’s coffee.

Take a similar approach with Starbucks - go at lunchtime or before work, pour in the “water” bottle.

Oh gosh I hate bloody tea run politics 😂 my old workplace was great, everyone did their own (unless it was for your mate/someone on the same break or whatever) but then I went to somewhere I can only describe as tea run hell. There were 20+ in the office and we had to make tea/coffee/whatever for everyone. People used to write post its to remember or use notes on their phone ffs it was ridiculous.

I know from places like this that coffee rounds are a really common thing, but I’ve never worked anywhere that does this. We just go and get a cup of tea or coffee for ourselves when we want one. If we are planning on a short brain break with the coffee we might ask if anyone else wanted to come along and get one too, but we’d each make our own.

I’ve always worked in larger offices though. Really can’t imagine having joint teas / coffees all day.

We all make our own coffee (granted we have a machine) but normally stand up and ask if anyone is joining for a coffee, and have a quick 5-10 minute chat as we wait. It breaks up the day and means we have time to show an interest in each other, work or otherwise. Would this be a option op?

Although it depends on how many coffees you consume I suppose. 😅 Those heavy coffee drinkers normally grab an extra one or ten by themselves for their desk.

That's the thing , if I get a Starbucks and offer others it's expected I'll pay as a treat , the others may offer round a pkt of biscuits but multiple coffees is expensive .

We have similar and we do do a round but if there are a lot of people saying yes please someone usually volunteers to help carry etc. I would never do more than one “round” a day though, because if other people want drinks they can make the next lot - I just say “your tea round X!” (We’ve all worked together for years)

It works fine as long as no one is a cheeky bugger.

Stop offering to get other people coffee when you go to starbucks etc.

I mean, just stop doing it. It's not really hard.

I've only worked at get your own drink places. Once though we had an engineering student who was temping and who made us a carrying tray with cup holes in, and engraved everyone's name with their drink number from the machine. That was a brilliant time.

I can't justify buying Starbucks for myself, never mind for other people. I bring my own coffee in now as I'm a bit of a coffee snob as well as being tight.

Shift worker, and we do rounds - whoever has 5 minutes free will do it. We run on tea. Non-hot-drinks-drinkers (weirdos) are exempt.

Nah sod that, if someone asks for something I would off hand comment "have you got the money for your coffee you asked for, can transfer it if its easier", oh you expect me to pay hahaha my god noooo, I'm not offering to pay for everyone's coffee! think I'm made of money? it's £5 a drink!

cf

I worked in a place where you weren't allowed to get drinks for others. It was so everyone took a stretch break away from the computer.

WTF!? I wouldn’t be paying for Starbucks for six people several times a day. That’s insane. How much are you actually spending on coffee every day?

I can't stand doing rounds, for pub drinks or coffee/tea. I just hate the faff of remembering orders and carrying everything. I definitely wouldnt have the patience to make up hot drinks for 6 people! So at work I just opt out of hot drinks and drink my own water ina water bottle brought from home. I enjoy hot drinks at home where I can enjoy them in peace.

In our office there are only ever a maximum of about 3 of us, I don’t drink hot drinks but the other 2 will offer hot drinks to each other. Quite simple as it’s just hot drinks for 2, there is a machine in the office aswell as a hot tap thing.
There is a canteen downstairs that serves apparently very good coffee so sometimes one of them will go down and get coffee for them both.
I couldn’t be arsed with it all, just fill up my water bottle in the middle of the day and keep out of the drinks discussion!

I would recommend a thermos direct drink flask, it fits three nespresso pods worth of coffee in it plus hot skimmed milk as i like cappucino. I make it at 7.00am and stays hot all morning, even at 1.00pm if I haven't drunk it by lunch time👍